Veterans who served after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, experienced more deployments, combat, and the difficulties that go along with them than previous generations.
A new Pew Research Center study shows the experience of these veterans, many of them millennials, differs drastically from that of their older peers across the board, from deployments to transitioning to civilian life. Some of the most noticeable differences are in the rates of deployment and combat.
“Roughly three-quarters of post-9/11 veterans were deployed at least once, compared with 58% of those who served before them,” the study found. “And post-9/11 veterans are about twice as likely as their pre-9/11 counterparts to have served in a combat zone.”
Higher rates of combat mean higher rates of the physical and mental scars that come with it. Half of post-9/11 vets say they had “emotionally traumatic or distressing experiences related to their military service, compared to only a quarter of other veterans.” Thirty-six percent of post-9/11 vets believe they have suffered from post-traumatic stress, compared with 14% of other generations.
These numbers reflect experience in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and numerous other conflicts that have taken place during the war on terror following 9/11. Not only were post-9/11 vets more more likely to deploy, many experienced numerous deployments. A 2018 RAND Corporation study found that 2.77 million veterans have served on 5.4 million deployments since 2001, a rate of nearly two per vet.
Certain segments of the military, such as the infantry and special operations forces, have experienced remarkably high numbers of post-9/11 deployments. It is not uncommon to find a Navy SEAL or Army Green Beret who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan more than a dozen times. Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, a member of the Army’s Delta Force, served on 14 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan before he was the first U.S. soldier killed fighting ISIS in 2015.
The transition from military to civilian life appears to have been remarkably more difficult for post-9/11 vets. Slightly more than half reported that it was “somewhat easy” or “very easy” to readjust, compared with 78% of their pre-9/11 counterparts.
One thing both groups share is the pride they take in their military service. A majority in both groups said they felt proud of their service, though post-9/11 vets reported a slightly lower rate.
